NABARD

WHY IN NEWS?

NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) sanctions Rs 1,500 cr for Punjab to ensure credit flow to farmers.

ABOUT NABARD

• It is an apex development and specialized bank established by Act of Parliament.
• Its main focus is to uplift rural India by increasing the credit flow for elevation of agriculture & rural non-farm sector.
• It was established based on the recommendations of the Committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the chairmanship of B. Shivaraman.
• It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
• NABARD today is fully owned by Government of India.
• It seeks to promote sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology and institutional development.
• The Self-Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Project launched by NABARD in 1992 is one of the world’s largest micro finance project.